Foot-operated chord xylophone

ABSTRACT

A foot-operated musical instrument is herein provided for simultaneously generating a plurality of musical notes which may comprise a musical chord. A plurality of note-sounding members are mounted on a support structure having a pedal assembly journaled thereon for rotating and rocking movement with respect thereto. A plurality of hammers are cantilevered from the pedal assembly and are arranged in a predetermined pattern to strike a corresponding pattern of note-sounding members comprising a musical chord. A stop device consisting of a snubber-like projection is arranged with respect to the pedal assembly so that an operator may thrust the pedal assembly against the snubberlike projection to effect the movement of the plurality of hammers to sharply strike the predetermined pattern of notesounding members. A series of cams is provided to form a detent arrangement for guiding the pedal into any one of a plurality of preselected positions corresponding with preselected musical chords.

United States Patent [1 1 Haile 1 Sept. 25, 1973 4] FOOT-OPERATED CHORD XYLOPHONE [57] ABSTRACT v [76] Inventor; Ernest Hail 30 Cadwalader Ter A foot-operated musical instrument is herein provided T NJ, for simultaneously generating a plurality of musical notes which may comprise a musical chord. A plurality [22] 1971 of note-sounding members are mounted on a support [21] A l. N 168,639 structure having a pedal assembly journaled thereon for rotating and rocking movement with respect thereto. A plurality of hammers are cantilevered from (gill 84/444, 84/4(gli08c4fig the pedal assembly and are arranged in a predeter.

mined pattern to Strike a corresponding pattern of [5 8] held of Search note-sounding members comprising a musical chord. A

stop device consisting of a snubber-like projection is arranged with respect to the pedal assembly so that an [56] References and operator may thrust the pedal assembly against the UNITED STATES PATENTS snubber-like projection to effect the movement of the 2,003,227 5/1935 Wilson t. 84/444 plurality of hammers to sharply strike the predeter- 3.38l,565 5/1968 84/444 mined pattern of note-sounding members. A series of 2.473.549 4 g 84/404 cams is provided to form a detent arrangement for l guiding the pedal into any one of a plurality of prese- 3:443:46) 5/1969 Hiroaka........................::: ii4/403 x posmons correspondmg preselected Primary Examiner-Lawrence R. Franklin Attorney-Sperry & Zoda cal chords.

3 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures a 7 NM 5 2 P a n E l N E TI 9 P SHEU 1 OF 2 INVENTR.

TORNEYS I note-sounding members.

Foo'r-oR RATED'cuoRD XYLOPHONE BACKGROUND OFYTHEINVENTION The present invention relates to musical instruments andmore particularly, relates to a foot-operated xylophone. 1

With the development of modern pop music, new instruments; producingdesirable sounds and playable simultaneously with otherinstruments by a single operment of the presentinvention.

, It is thereforean object of the present invention to provide a new foot-operated musical instrument.

It is a'nother objectof'the present invention to pro vide a foot ope rated musical instrument which Senec- 'tive in generating musicaljchords without" theneed for extensivevis ual guidance by the musician. It is stillanother object ,ofthe presentg-invention to i provide'a. musical chord generating instrument which may be'operated by theflfoot while leaving the hands free to play a melody-producing instrument.

1 it is yet ano'therobject 'o'f'the'present invention to provide a foot-operated chord- Xylophone which is effectiveto reproduce,exactly', the same chord whenever it issodesired." I

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a foot-operated musical instrument which is relatively inexpensive tomanufacture. t It is yeta further object of the present invention to provide a musical instrument which may'be played without extensive. instruction andpracticeig It is yeta further object ofthe present invention to provide a "foot-operated musical chord instrument i which meets many of the instrumentationrequirements made by modern musicians. 3 g At leastsome of theabove-cited objects are achieved by the'provisi'onof afoot-operated musical instrument comprising asupport structure having a pedal assembly mounted for simultaneous rotating androckingmove ment with respect thereto. A plurality of note sounding members may be mounted on the structure and a plurality of hammers maybe-connected with the pedal assembly by means'of a spring device: A'snubber member is positioned on' the support structure and is so disposed with respect to the pedal assembly that it may be struck by the pedal assemblyso as 'to cause the hammers to be thrust into engagement with a preselected pattern of In one feature of the invention, a cam means may be provided forguiding the pedal assembly into one of a plurality of preselected :positions to generate acorrespending musical chordassociated-with that position.

, 'BRiEFfDEscRIPTron oF Tl-IE DRAWINGS While the invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in a concluding portion'of this specification, a preferred embodiment is set forth in the following detailed description which may be'best under- 2 stood when read in connection with the accompanying drawings in which;

FIG. I is a top plan view of amusical instrumentaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 2is a sectional view, taken substantially on line 2-2 of FIG. 1, on an enlarged scale;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the instrument of FIG. 1 showing a camming arrangement of the instrument and taken along line 3-3 on a scale enlarged above that of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view, on a scale enlarged above that of FIG. 2, of a pedal assembly of the musical instrument of FIG. 1 taken along line 4-4;

FIG. 5 is a bottom plan view of the pedal assembly of the musical instrument shown in FIG. 1 on the same scale as FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of a spring-biasing arrangement associated with the pedal assembly of the musical instrument shown in FIG. 1; and I .FIG. 7 is a vertical sectional view of the pedal assembly of the musical instrument shown in FIG. 1 taken along line 7-7, on anenlarged scale.

DETAILED DEscRlprioN OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT- views thereof, FIG 1 shows a top plan view of afootoperated musical instrument according to the present invention. a

The instrument generally comprises a supporting structure 10 consisting of a generally horizontally extending base formed of wood or the like. A, plurality of note-sounding members ortone bars may be mounted on the support structure 10 by any suitable fastening meansl4 (e.g.,nuts'and.bolts).The overall mounting arrangement for the note-sounding members or tone bars l2will be described in detail in connection with no.2 I

A pedal assembly 16 is mounted on the support structure 10 for rotating and rocking movement.. A'plurality of hammers 18 may be cantilevered from the pedal assembly 16 by cantilever spring arms or members 20.

' Thehammers may be supported to define a generally horizontallyextending plane.

The hammers 18 may be arranged, with respect to the'note-sounding members 12, in a predetermined array so that four note-sounding members maybe simultaneously struck when the pedal assembly is properly operated. In this connection, the note-sounding members 12 may be arranged in two concentric, arcuate rows or series, e.g. an inner row or series A and an outer row or series B. The hammers 18 would then be arranged to simultaneously strike two note-sounding members 12 of arc uate series A and two note-sounding members of series B.

Accordingly if note-sounding member 12a were to generate the musical .note C, member 12b were to sound the note E, member were to sound the musical note G, and member 12d were to sound the musical note C, the resultant sound from striking 12a, 12b, 12c, and 12d simultaneously would be the chord C major.

Referring to FIG. 2, it can be seen that the notesounding members 12 generally comprise striking plates mounted on sections of tubing 22 having apertures 24 fonned inan upper cylindricalsurface thereof. The tubes 22 may be closed off at either end by vertically extending plates 26. A mounting plate 28 may be attached to the upper portion of each tube 22 for engagement with the threaded fastening means 14 having elastomeric washers 30 disposed between the lower surface of each plate 12 and the upper surface of the mounting plate 28.

The pedal assembly 16 is rotatable about the axis 32 (see FIG. 2) and is mounted for rocking movement about the axis 34 (see FIG. 1). The pedal assembly 16 is formed with an adjustable toe grip 36 and a fixed heel grip 38. The toe grip is slidable along slots 40 formed in tabs 42 extending from the toe grip 36. Bolts may be provided to extend outwardly from the assembly, through the slots 40 to engage wing nuts, for adjustably securing the grip 36.

A snubber-like stop member 44 may be mounted on the upper surface of the supporting structure for impact engagement with the lower surface 46 of the pedal assembly upon the downward thrust thereof by an operators foot 48. The stop member 44 may consist of any structural material having an elastomeric bumper portion 50 presented on the upper marginal edge thereof which portion 50 is arranged to absorb the impact of the surface 46-engaging the stop member 44.

A camming arrangement may be provided consisting of a plurality of upwardly extending projections 52 (see FIG. 3) disposed arcuately with respect to the axis 32 of the pedal assembly 16 (see FIG. 1). The upwardly extending projections 52 may be generally triangular in configuration presenting peaks 54 and valleys 56. A

- roller member 58 may be journaled to the pedal assembly 16 for rotational movement with respect thereto. The roller 58 may be arranged to strike an arc upon the rotation of the pedal assembly about axis 32, with the roller in engagement with a friction surface. The peaks 54 and valleys 56 presented by the series of camming members 52 are arranged so that the hammers 18 are precisely positioned over four preselected notesounding membersl2 when the roller member 58 is disposed within a valley 56. In this manner, a precise musical chord may be sounded without close visual guidance by a musician operating the instrument.

.The hammers 18 are arranged so that two hammers are aligned along one radial extending from the pedal assembly 16 and the remaining two hammers are aligned along an adjacent radial. Felt bumper members 19 may be provided to prevent interference between two independently operating springs 20.

Referring to FIGS. 4 through 7, the construction of the pedal assembly 16 is shown in detail.

FIG. 4 shows a spring biasing member 60' for returning the pedal assembly 16 to an upper position, upon an operator's removing of foot pressure therefrom.

Asshown in FIGS. 4 and 7, the entire pedal assembly may be rotated about the axis 32 of the shaft 62, which may be journaled within the platform 10 by any suitable means. Similarly, the pedal assembly 16 may be rocked about axis 34 by the rotation of ears 64, about a shaft 66, which forms a generally T-shaped configuration with respect to the vertical shaft 62. The spring member 60 may be provided with an opening for the insertion of the vertical shaft 62 therethrough and may be securedto a mounting plate portion 68 of the shaft 62 by a threaded fastening means 70.

' It can thus be seen that a foot-operated chord xylophone has been herein provided which enables a musician to strike a precise musical chord without close visual guidance. The musician may sound precise chords solely in response to the movement of his foot so as to leave his hands free to play melody on another musical instrument such as a guitar.

Due to the unique arrangement of hammers, attached to the pedal assembly by cantilever springs, a sharp sounding note may be generated from each notesounding plate upon the impacting of the lower surface 46 of the pedal assembly against the snubber-like stop member 44. Due to the resilient quality of the cantilever spring arms or members 20, the note-sounding means may be sharply struck once and then the hammers are returned to a note-sounding plate nonengaging position.

The arrangement of camming elements is such as to guide a musicians foot to a precise chord.

The various elements comprising the present invention have been arranged in a unique manner so that a synergistic result is achieved whereby the resulting function of the musical instrument, according to the present invention, is greaterthan the summation of the parts thereof.

SCOPE OF THE INVENTION While what has been described herein is a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is of course understood that various modifications and changes may be made therein without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention. It is therefore intended to cover in the following claims all such modifications and changes as may fall within the true spirit and scope of the present invention.

I claim:

1. A foot-operated musical instrument of the xylophone type for sounding a plurality of musical notes simultaneously, comprising: a pair of radially spaced, arcuate, inner and outer rows of tone bars, said rows being respectively curved about a common axis and the several bars of each row being aligned radially of said axis with corresponding bars of the other row; a foot pedal rotatable about said axis by a user to any of a plurality of indexed positions along said rows, said pedal being mounted for rocking motion by the user in each of the several positions to which it may be so indexed; and an inner and an outer pair of arms extending from the pedal and terminating in hammers disposed above the tone bars of the inner and outer rows respectively, the several positions to which the pedal may be rotatably indexed being selected to poise the hammers of the inner pair of arms above selected side-by-side tone bars of the inner row while locating the hammers of the outer pair of arms above side-by-side bars of the outer row that are aligned with said side-by-side, selected bars of the inner row, said hammers being arranged to strike, simultaneously, the several bars above which they are poised in response to rocking of the pedal by a user in the selected, indexed position to which it has been rotated, the bars simultaneously struck by said hammers being grouped harmonically to sound a given musical chord.

2. A musical instrument as in claim 1, in which corresponding radially aligned tone bars have their lengths aligned radially of the first named axis, the hammers of each pair of arms being respectively aligned, radially of the first named axis, with the corresponding hammers of the other pair of arms.

dexedssaid snubber means being arranged for flexure of the arms against the spring tension thereof to impact the hammers against the tone bars above which they are poised in response to rocking of the pedal by the user into engagement with the snubber means. 

1. A foot-operated musical instrument of the xylophone type for sounding a plurality of musical notes simultaneously, comprising: a pair of radially spaced, arcuate, inner and outer rows of tone bars, said rows being respectively curved about a common axis and the several bars of each row being aligned radially of said axis with corresponding bars of the other row; a foot pedal rotatable about said axis by a user to any of a plurality of indexed positions along said rows, said pedal being mounted for rocking motion by the user in each of the several positions to which it may be so indexed; and an inner and an outer pair of arms extending from the pedal and terminating in hammers disposed above the tone bars of the inner and outer rows respectively, the several positions to which the pedal may be rotatably indexed being selected to poise the hammers of the inner pair of arms above selected side-by-side tone bars of the inner row while locating the hammers of the outer pair of arms above side-by-side bars of the outer row that are aligned with said side-by-side, selected bars of the inner row, said hammers being arranged to strike, simultaneously, the several bars above which they are poised in response to rocking of the pedal by a user in the selected, indexed position to which it has been rotated, the bars simultaneously struck by said hammers being grouped harmonically to sound a given musical chord.
 2. A musical instrument as in claim 1, in which corresponding radially aligned tone bars have their lengths aligned radially of the first named axis, the hammers of each pair of arms being respectively aligned, radially of the first named axis, with the corresponding hammers of the other pair of arms.
 3. A musical instrument as in claim 1, in which the tone bars of both of said rows lie in a common plane and said hammers are also co-planar, each arm being connected to the pedal independently of the remaining arms and being of a spring material, and snubber means underlying the pedal between the first named axis and the hammers in each position to which the pedal is indexed, said snubber means being arranged for flexure of the arms against the spring tension thereof to impact the hammers against the tone bars above which they are poised in response to rocking of the pedal by the user into engagement with the snubber means. 